This past April my Pooter turned 1 year old. When I brought him home he was 5 weeks old. I had never owned a bunny before and I really wasn't sure what to expect. I brought him home, set him down on the couch and rolled him a little whiffle ball that belonged to the cats. He picked it up and tossed it back to me...
I was in love...
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| My Pooter at 5 weeks old |
Within a few weeks he was in love with me too. Really in love with me. That special show of affection you get when you visit that one friend who's beloved pooch never fails to latch on to your leg like it was a cheap french poodle. We've all been there. You smile politely as you try nonchalantly to shake the beast from your leg. Embarrassment washing over you as you wonder if anyone notices. Well, that was my Pooter. Showing his love for me or at least for my leg .
Now, Having gone through the same thing with my husband, I knew exactly what to do. A quick trip to the vet, a couple of weeks of down time and my Pooter was back to his lovable self and my shins were once again safe from his amorous advances.
As for my husband, I still have problems with him. The whole humping the leg thing, but almost
never in public.
That was my first major lesson in bunny ownership. They mature very early and they will hump
your leg like a dog. Who would have guessed. I mean, I've been in areas that had wild bunnies.
Never had one run up and wrap himself around my leg before. I honestly thought it was
something only dogs did, I stand corrected. Bunnies hump too.
My next lesson would prove to be somewhat simpler, somewhat entertaining and a whole lot cheaper. You see, when I first got Pooter I wondered what I would do with him. A dog, you can walk. A cat, you can play with. What do you do with bunnies? To my surprise bunnies love to play.
This was going to be great.. for me. Not so great for others..
It came to be that one of Pooter's favorite things to play is " Chase the Kitty." Hilarious for me.
Not so much for the kitty.
Pooter's Primary Target...
Now, some people might think it's not the best idea to let a 11 lb kitty play with a 2 lb
bunny and believe me, I was a little concerned myself until it dawned on me that it was the
kitty who needed protection. Poor kitty.
Their actually pretty good playmates,(always supervised) but that wasn't always the case. When I
first introduced these two I was a little worried about the whole kitty bunny thing. You know,
kitty chases bunny, kitty eats bunny .. Yeah, that thing. I've heard cats do those kinds of things
but I had confidence .... That I could move faster than my slow tomcat... So, I set the bunny down.
Tigger looked at me and then looked at the bunny. Walked over and sniffed the bunny. Looked at
me. Sniffed the bunny again. Took his foot and gentley touched the bunny, perhaps checking for
durability. Sat down and looked at me with a look that said, " I don't know what it is, but what does
it do?" Hmm. Inside cat. OK, Not what I expected but a good sign. I said," Tig, do you like the bunny?". Tig looked at me and said," meow". OK, undecided. This was good. It was going to be great. We could all live together in harmony!!! Yeah, right.
You see, other than being a sometimes grouchy tom, Tigger, for the most part is a very loving guy who thinks everything should be shared. Pretty much, what's yours is his. Tigger is also for the most part, Well.., an idiot. And Pooter, my cute little fuzzy, ( you saw the picture, right?) I quickly found out, is, Well..., territorial. Can you get an idea where this is going?
Everything happened so fast. One minute I'm telling Tig to get out of the bunnies cage and stop eating his food and the next thing I know, all hell broke loose. I don't know another way to describe it. Animals running fast. Around my legs. Threw my legs. Under the furniture. Everywhere. I have to save ...someone...who?? Grab Tigger. Grab the bunny. I can't get hold of either one of them and in this blur of commotion I realize that it's bunny after cat. That 2 lb ball of cute is now a drooling, snarling monster, chasing after my cat with the speed of light and a tuft of my cats fur hanging out of his mouth...I kid you not.. My son hears the commotion and runs in to help. Now, my son is
grown, pretty much, so he's man size . You need to know that to get the whole visual picture in
your mind. So, my son decides to snatch that bunny up and put an end to this drama. He makes a
couple of attempts and misses. Just as he bends down to make another attempt to grab him, that
bunny stopped in front of my son, firmly planted his feet and growled at my son.. I'm sorry but the
sight of my grown son and this tiny little bunny ready to kick his butt..I couldn't help it..I busted out
laughing. My son started laughing. We couldn't help it. 2 lbs or not, this bunny was serious.
Needless to say, I thought I had bought a rabid bunny and went right back to the pet store where
they laughed at my kitty's traumatic experience and explained that he basically brought it on himself.
Bunnies are territorial. Big time.
It took a little time but Tigger and Pooter get along pretty good now. Tig has learned a little respect
for Pooter. A little fear too. He still tries to get in his cage occasionally. I told you..he's an idiot.
I've learned a lot about bunnies in the last year and I haven't regretted a moment of my time
with Pooter but I can't help think that sometimes he's lonely. So I bought him a girlfriend to keep
him company.
Poor Tig...
Skittles
I think he likes her...
